Bovie Movie

The car’s the star in this boys-and-their-toys action drama that, unfortunately, has too little action to cover for the absence of plot. Nicolas Cage plays a reformed car thief who agrees to pull off an impossible job — steal 50 top-of-the-range cars in four nights — for bad guy Christopher Eccleston, in return for his brother Giovanni Ribisi’s life. Cage ropes in his old crew — including ex-flame Angelina Jolie and silent-but-deadly Vinnie Jones — for the job, but it’s over an hour before we get any stealing or crashing of any description. There’s a nice chase at the end, but the deficiencies in the storyline drive it headfirst into a cul-de-sac of unrealised tension. 

Twelve years after he last wore the white vest in Die Hard with a Vengeance, Bruce Willis returns as John McClane in this unabashedly retro blockbuster. As cyber-terrorists led by Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) threaten to hack America to a complete standstill, McClane is once again the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Willis returns to the role that made him an action star with unexpected ease, striking up a witty, odd-couple partnership with Justin Long’s cowardly hacker. Meanwhile, a rollicking selection of over-the-top set pieces — including the jaw-dropping sight of a fighter jet playing chicken with an 18-wheel tanker truck — put the $100-million budget to explosive use. Aware of its own ridiculousness but unwilling to slip into outright parody, it instead channels the laughs into some immaculately polished quips for its ever-lugubrious hero. Loud, relentless and thoroughly entertaining, it’s an enjoyable throwback to the 1980s. 

Doug Liman cleverly intertwines three separate storylines to present a picture of mixed-up youth in Los Angeles in this stunning follow-up to his impressive directorial debut, Swingers. It’s Christmas Eve and two supermarket checkout girls are desperately trying to raise some rent money by rather dubious means. A colleague drives with his mates to Las Vegas, but their good-time gambling quickly turns sour. In the meantime, two male soap stars become embroiled in a police sting and end up getting their fingers burnt. Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr and Scott Wolf are all on great form in an ensemble vision of 20-something angst that boasts a superb soundtrack. The result is one of the most original and hilarious films to come out of Hollywood in recent years. 

One of Dreamcatcher’s few memorable moments concerns an extra-terrestrial life form erupting from the bottom of an unfortunate gentleman while he’s on the lavatory. It’s an entirely appropriate image, since down the toilet is exactly where this, the latest in a long line of poor quality Stephen King adaptations, is headed. The bizarre plot has four childhood friends on a hunting trip rescuing a deranged oddball who, it soon emerges, is host to some sort of alien parasite. While they attempt to evade the monster, the military — in the shape of Morgan Freeman — arrives, determined to eradicate all trace of the shape-shifting beastie. Despite a screenplay co-written by William Goldman (who brilliantly adapted King’s Misery), initially effective atmospherics from director/co-writer Lawrence Kasdan and creditable performances, this is soon hobbled by poor quality CGI and an abysmally incoherent final act. As usual, King fans are advised to stick to the book.